Streaking Through The Southland

Michael Duca

01/01/2006

Not since 2000 has the Cal Bears men's basketball team swept victories
in Southern California. Their 68-61 win on Wooden Court at Pauley Pavilion
Saturday continued Cal's early-season role as spoiler of streaks; after snapping
USC's win skein
at nine on Thursday, they terminated the Bruins' run of wins at eight
on Saturday.

The Bruins entered the game ranked #11 in the country; this was Cal's
first victory over a team so highly rated since they knocked off Arizona (then
ranked #7) in February of 1999.

Watching this game, it became clear that several players have enjoyed serious
maturation and development since last season.

Leon Powe, who has often said that sitting on the sidelines for a year has
made him a more complete player, demonstrated that fact with his play. UCLA,
whose front line has been riddled by injuries, still played their tough inside
defense, as they have all year, and they limited Powe to five points on 1-for-7
shooting; nevertheless, the second-year player cleared 12 rebounds, 11 on the
defensive end, and repeatedly passed to the open man to thwart the double-team
defense.

Ben Howland's teams are always known for their defense, and this Bruin
squad is no exception. Powe worked hard for everything he put into the box
score.

"I told Leon after the game that I thought this was the best game he
has played for us," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "He and Richard (Midgley)
were our leaders, and they remained vocal on the floor the entire game."

Midgley played a rock-solid game, spending 38 minutes on the floor and registering
12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a pair of treys which left him in a
tie for second on Cal's all-time list with Joe Shipp. The second three-ball,
at the 9:06 mark, ended a 9-0 UCLA run that, for a brief 15 seconds, gave the
Bruins their only second-half lead at 44-41.

UCLA was not the only team playing solid defense. UCLA entered the game with
the highest shooting percentage in the Pac-10, right at 50%. The Golden Bears
held their younger brethren to a sparse 36% from the floor.

The game was not all smooth sailing, however.

"Our players were willing to take a few hits and not lay down," Braun
said. "There are always going to be some calls that don't go the
way you want them to, and we did not let that bother us."

What the coach was talking about were several highly questionable calls from
the officiating crew.

Full disclosure: I spent several years as a basketball referee, working my
way through college in that role. Having said that, there were instances where
even the partisan UCLA announcers were frankly stunned by the calls being made.

Cal survived being dinged for no-touch offensive fouls, being called for fouls
on clean blocks, and even an out of bounds call where Alfred Aboya of UCLA
clearly volleyballed the ball out of bounds with both hands. At times, it seemed
the Bears were playing 8-on-5; to their credit, as their low-key coach said,
it never seemed to bother them.

To give a full idea of how far off-kilter the game's whistles felt,
keep in mind that the Bruins were missing their premier front-court players,
7-foot senior centers Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins, and #3 scorer Cedric Bozeman
as well. In addition to these missing inside threats, Jordan Farmar was playing
on a sprained ankle suffered Thursday evening.

Despite their missing front court crew and lack of a penetrating shooter,
UCLA managed to get to the free throw line for 24 attempts, compared to only
16 for Cal. What is significant about that is that the Golden Bears have, per
game, hit more free throws than their opponents have attempted this season.

The game was physical throughout, but more so as it wound down, and DeVon Hardin, another of the players who have improved tremendously, played a key
role.

With Powe sitting on the bench with three fouls for about seven minutes, Hardin
took charge of the inside. The sophomore from Union City converted a pair of
free throws, then hit a follow shot hook, a 10-foot baseline jumper, and finally,
a jump hook that, in Braun's words, "looked a lot like another
big man who played his collegiate career on this floor back in the 60s." The
jump hook extended Cal's lead to six points at 56-50 at 3:18.

At that point, Ayinde Ubaka asserted his control over the rest of the game,
as he did Thursday against USC.

UCLA pressed in the inbounds pass, but two times Ubaka (after informing the
referee of his intentions - a veteran move) passed the ball to Midgley out
of bounds along the baseline, then cut between the Bruin defenders and took
the inbounds pass from Midgley to break the press.

After Hardin collected his fourth foul at 2:49, Ubaka drained a pair of free
throws at 2:34 to take the score to 58-51. Darren Collison hit a trey, and
a gift pair of free throws after Omar Wilkes was called for a foul on a clean
block. Rod Benson, replacing Hardin, hit a follow shot with 1:18 to push the
lead back to four at 60-56.

Jordan Farmar then hit an 18-foot jumper, then, when beaten by Ubaka on a
drive, made a miraculous play to poke the ball out of bounds as Ubaka was airborne.

On the subsequent play, Ubaka drove the right side of the lane. Arron Afflalo,
UCLA's leading scorer with 19 points on the day, slapped the ball away,
but Collison tried to tap it away to start a break; instead, Ubaka recovered
the loose rock and drained it for a backbreaking 62-58 lead with 35 ticks remaining.

When Farmar missed the first of two free throws, UCLA had to foul Ubaka on
the inbounds play. The Oakland native calmly drained both charity tosses (he
was 7-for-7 from the line on the day), giving the Bears a secure five point
cushion with 21.5 seconds remaining. A Benson dunk after a steal, and a length-of-the-court
pass to Ubaka for a layup at the buzzer provided the final margin.

Cal had to overcome a fine second half performance from Alfred Aboya, who
played 11 minutes against Stanford on Thursday and neither scored nor tallied
a rebound. Saturday was a different story; in 20 minutes he was 4-for-4 from
the floor and added three offensive rebounds.

More important than the sweep is the fact that this was the kind of win that
can set a tone for a season. Pauley is a hostile environment at all times;
this, their second consecutive win on the floor, even Ben Braun's record
vs. the Bruins at 10-10. This might have been the most satisfying of those
ten victories.

This team showed passion, determination, and heart under adverse circumstances.
They handled UCLA's press with relative ease, got the solid contributions
they need from their size advantage up front, and received inspired play from
their three guards, who contributed 42 of the 68 points.

Successful tournament teams advance behind great guard play. The Golden Bears
are becoming a team that has outstanding guard play, while still dominating
the glass - they out-rebounded the Bruins, 32-25.

It's too early to predict where this team will finish in the Pac-10,
but it's not too early to say that they have made a statement to the
other teams in the conference. Cal is for real this year, and teams will have
to play a full 40 minutes to beat them.

Last year, Rod Benson was the conference's Most Improved Player. It's
hard to imagine any player in the Pac-10 improving more than DeVon Hardin has
since last year. He has learned to avoid foul trouble, and has grown into a
body that has NBA scouts salivating already.

If you haven't done so already, subscribe to The Bear Insider
so you can participate in this active online Cal community and get access
to the members-only content from the nation-wide Scout.com network.

Bear Insider staff writers visit the Insider discussion board regularly,
and are available to discuss questions you may have about this article and Cal Athletics.

The Bruins entered the game ranked #11 in the country; this was Cal's first victory over a team so highly rated since they knocked off Arizona (then ranked #7) in February of 1999.

Watching this game, it became clear that several players have enjoyed serious maturation and development since last season.

Leon Powe, who has often said that sitting on the sidelines for a year has made him a more complete player, demonstrated that fact with his play. UCLA, whose front line has been riddled by injuries, still played their tough inside defense, as they have all year, and they limited Powe to five points on 1-for-7 shooting; nevertheless, the second-year player cleared 12 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end, and repeatedly passed to the open man to thwart the double-team defense.

Ben Howland's teams are always known for their defense, and this Bruin squad is no exception. Powe worked hard for everything he put into the box score.

\"I told Leon after the game that I thought this was the best game he has played for us,\" Cal coach Ben Braun said. \"He and Richard (Midgley) were our leaders, and they remained vocal on the floor the entire game.\"

Midgley played a rock-solid game, spending 38 minutes on the floor and registering 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a pair of treys which left him in a tie for second on Cal's all-time list with Joe Shipp. The second three-ball, at the 9:06 mark, ended a 9-0 UCLA run that, for a brief 15 seconds, gave the Bruins their only second-half lead at 44-41.

UCLA was not the only team playing solid defense. UCLA entered the game with the highest shooting percentage in the Pac-10, right at 50%. The Golden Bears held their younger brethren to a sparse 36% from the floor.

The game was not all smooth sailing, however.

\"Our players were willing to take a few hits and not lay down,\" Braun said. \"There are always going to be some calls that don't go the way you want them to, and we did not let that bother us.\"

What the coach was talking about were several highly questionable calls from the officiating crew.

Full disclosure: I spent several years as a basketball referee, working my way through college in that role. Having said that, there were instances where even the partisan UCLA announcers were frankly stunned by the calls being made.

Cal survived being dinged for no-touch offensive fouls, being called for fouls on clean blocks, and even an out of bounds call where Alfred Aboya of UCLA clearly volleyballed the ball out of bounds with both hands. At times, it seemed the Bears were playing 8-on-5; to their credit, as their low-key coach said, it never seemed to bother them.

To give a full idea of how far off-kilter the game's whistles felt, keep in mind that the Bruins were missing their premier front-court players, 7-foot senior centers Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins, and #3 scorer Cedric Bozeman as well. In addition to these missing inside threats, Jordan Farmar was playing on a sprained ankle suffered Thursday evening.

Despite their missing front court crew and lack of a penetrating shooter, UCLA managed to get to the free throw line for 24 attempts, compared to only 16 for Cal. What is significant about that is that the Golden Bears have, per game, hit more free throws than their opponents have attempted this season.

The game was physical throughout, but more so as it wound down, and DeVon Hardin, another of the players who have improved tremendously, played a key role.

With Powe sitting on the bench with three fouls for about seven minutes, Hardin took charge of the inside. The sophomore from Union City converted a pair of free throws, then hit a follow shot hook, a 10-foot baseline jumper, and finally, a jump hook that, in Braun's words, \"looked a lot like another big man who played his collegiate career on this floor back in the 60s.\" The jump hook extended Cal's lead to six points at 56-50 at 3:18.

At that point, Ayinde Ubaka asserted his control over the rest of the game, as he did Thursday against USC.

UCLA pressed in the inbounds pass, but two times Ubaka (after informing the referee of his intentions - a veteran move) passed the ball to Midgley out of bounds along the baseline, then cut between the Bruin defenders and took the inbounds pass from Midgley to break the press.

After Hardin collected his fourth foul at 2:49, Ubaka drained a pair of free throws at 2:34 to take the score to 58-51. Darren Collison hit a trey, and a gift pair of free throws after Omar Wilkes was called for a foul on a clean block. Rod Benson, replacing Hardin, hit a follow shot with 1:18 to push the lead back to four at 60-56.

Jordan Farmar then hit an 18-foot jumper, then, when beaten by Ubaka on a drive, made a miraculous play to poke the ball out of bounds as Ubaka was airborne.

On the subsequent play, Ubaka drove the right side of the lane. Arron Afflalo, UCLA's leading scorer with 19 points on the day, slapped the ball away, but Collison tried to tap it away to start a break; instead, Ubaka recovered the loose rock and drained it for a backbreaking 62-58 lead with 35 ticks remaining.

When Farmar missed the first of two free throws, UCLA had to foul Ubaka on the inbounds play. The Oakland native calmly drained both charity tosses (he was 7-for-7 from the line on the day), giving the Bears a secure five point cushion with 21.5 seconds remaining. A Benson dunk after a steal, and a length-of-the-court pass to Ubaka for a layup at the buzzer provided the final margin.

Cal had to overcome a fine second half performance from Alfred Aboya, who played 11 minutes against Stanford on Thursday and neither scored nor tallied a rebound. Saturday was a different story; in 20 minutes he was 4-for-4 from the floor and added three offensive rebounds.

More important than the sweep is the fact that this was the kind of win that can set a tone for a season. Pauley is a hostile environment at all times; this, their second consecutive win on the floor, even Ben Braun's record vs. the Bruins at 10-10. This might have been the most satisfying of those ten victories.

This team showed passion, determination, and heart under adverse circumstances. They handled UCLA's press with relative ease, got the solid contributions they need from their size advantage up front, and received inspired play from their three guards, who contributed 42 of the 68 points.

Successful tournament teams advance behind great guard play. The Golden Bears are becoming a team that has outstanding guard play, while still dominating the glass - they out-rebounded the Bruins, 32-25.

It's too early to predict where this team will finish in the Pac-10, but it's not too early to say that they have made a statement to the other teams in the conference. Cal is for real this year, and teams will have to play a full 40 minutes to beat them.

Last year, Rod Benson was the conference's Most Improved Player. It's hard to imagine any player in the Pac-10 improving more than DeVon Hardin has since last year. He has learned to avoid foul trouble, and has grown into a body that has NBA scouts salivating already.

If you haven't done so already, subscribe to The Bear Insider so you can participate in this active online Cal community and get access to the members-only content from the nation-wide Scout.com network.

Bear Insider staff writers visit the Insider discussion board regularly, and are available to discuss questions you may have about this article and Cal Athletics.